White Asparagus Lemon Cream Fusilli

White Asparagus Lemon Cream Pasta is a great way to welcome spring! A fresh and sunny dish filled with fresh white asparagus and a touch of parmesan.

Asparagus is one of the first veggie that want’s to come out in spring, both the green and white kind are actually the same, the only difference is that the white one never get to see the sun. They pick it up with the help of a sharp tool under the dirt directly preventing photosynthesis. The taste is softer and the texture also and if you peel it right you can even eat it raw.

Preparation

The main difference to its preparation is that unlike the green asparagus. You’ll need to peel its whole body (except the head) about twice because it’s covered with thick fibres which prevent the asparagus from getting tender when cooked. If it’s not peeled properly the asparagus will be difficult to eat because of all those fibres.

White asparagus are quite pricey so you’ll want to use every single bit of it. I suggest you clean your asparagus first and keep all the scraps from it; meaning the foot and all the peeled parts, you can easily make a great purée or soup with it later on. Unlike the green asparagus where you brake them to keep solely the tender part, with white ones you won’t need to do it this way. You’ll peel all that rough part out anyways and plus you don’t want to get rid of half the length for that price… right? So just cut about 2 or 3 cm max on the bottom of the asparagus then peel them until the skin feels tender. Sometime white asparagus are quite thick others thin so you’ll have to adjust the amount you peel off.

For highlighting the asparagus I’ve done a light creamy lemon fusilli to accompany it. A smooth and lightly flavored cream to highlight and enhance the delicate yet exquisite taste of the asparagus!

Let’s spring begin!

White Asparagus Lemon Cream Fusilli

Makes 2 portions | Preparation: 20 minutes | Difficulty: easy

Ingredients

420g of fresh white asparagus

400g of pasta of your choice

250ml of light cream

zest of 1 lemon plus half its juice

parmesan

salt and pepper

Directions

Start by cleaning then cutting the bottom of the asparagus and then peel them (check how above)

Cut the bottom part at about 2 cm high and cut the rest of the asparagus into 3 or 4 to make small pieces

Cook them in a big pot of boiling water (use the same water later on for the pasta) until cooked about 5-7 minutes (depending on the size of your asparagus)

Take the asparagus out with a slotted spoon and reserve

Use the same water and cook the fusilli in it (to your favorite consistency)

Add the cream in a small sauce pan with the zest of a lemon, salt and pepper and cook it slowly until warm, it’s should not boil

Add the white asparagus to the cream sauce to keep them warm

Drain the pasta, put back in the big pot and add half the juice of the lemon and the cream sauce and mix

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13 thoughts on “White Asparagus Lemon Cream Fusilli”

Oh, asparagus, how I miss thee! I, unfortunately, can’t digest asparagus for the past few years for some reason otherwise I would be all about this pasta. It looks like spring on a plate! So light and delicate and full of flavour!

The perfect Spring dish, Marie. I am so excited it’s finally asparagus season again. I find that white asparagus is pretty hit and miss here in Canada (and much more popular in Europe). I asked our local asparagus farm why they don’t grow it and I guess it all comes down to the extra work and not enough demand. I beg to differ, though. I think the local restaurants would snap it up.